A Knight in Dragonland

I’m glad my wife called Sunset Hills School this morning to see if the children would be watching the inauguration of President Barack Obama. The answer was no. They were going to talk about the inauguration, but the children would not be watching the event.
My children stayed home from school today. They’re [...]

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Watch the local special at 6 and the show itself at 7 on ABC tonight!

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Hey, I still live here … on the weekends, at least.
So, from the Daily Times Weekend edition:
* CityLink now has hourly routes between Pekin & Peoria for only $1. Covenient & affordable public transportation … now there’s a novel concept! Kudos to the City of Pekin and CityLink for making this happen.
* The [...]

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Rest in peace, R. David Tebben. You will be greatly missed.

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Mayor Dave Tebben remains in the ICU and has had some serious setbacks since his surgery. Please keep him and his family in your thoughts & prayers.

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Pekin Mayor David Tebben had a heart attack on Saturday. He underwent an angioplasty procedure Saturday evening and is currently recovering at Methodist Medical Center.
Our thoughts & prayers are with Mayor Tebben and his family. We wish him a speedy recovery.
UPDATE (11/5/2008): Good news! Mayor Tebben has been transferred out of the [...]

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There are some interesting figures on the Chamber of Commerce Biz Barometer for July. The news from the real estate front isn’t good. Compared to July of ‘07, fewer homes sold for a lower average price after spending a month more on the market. The motor fuel tax revenue is down (not [...]

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A woman drowned in Lake Arlan and two women were busted for heroin after one of them overdosed and had to be taken to the ER. M’lady, the Little Dragons and I drove past all the first responder vehicles on our way home from our nephew’s birthday party in Edwardsville last Saturday night. [...]

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So THAT is what’s going in the old Hardee’s building on Court & Parkway. The Maid-Rite dining franchise is coming to Pekin.
I couldn’t understand why that spot was vacant for so long … at least the two years that I’ve lived here. Court & Parkway is probably the busiest intersection in Pekin, and the lot [...]

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Probably the most controversial local issue around Pekin lately is the recently implemented impound ordinance. The financial success of this ordinance over the first three months of its existence is described here, and the Times editorial board discusses the issue here.
Like the Times editors, I have mixed thoughts about the ordinance. I can [...]

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The Pekin Area Chamber of Commerce has started blogging. They actually have multiple blogs running, including one dedicated to the Marigold Festival and another to the Pepsi Marigold Medallion Hunt. There are also Chamber-related photos (ribbon cutting & ground breaking ceremonies, Puttin’ On Pekin breakfast photos, etc.) online at Picasa.

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I have experienced more power glitches – both brief interruptions and prolonged outages – in the last two years in Pekin than I did for my entire 15 years in St. Louis.  We’ve had two prolonged outages and 3 or 4 flickers just in the past couple weeks.
What gives???  Has Pekin always had such frequent [...]

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Some people around here must like the fact that Pekin is viewed as the racist Mecca of Central Illinois. In the past week or so, I’ve seen two gentlemen wearing “Chinks” t-shirts. One of them was at the big playground in Mineral Springs Park setting a wonderful example for the youth of Pekin. [...]

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Ed Emmons, chronic curmudgeon of the Pekin Daily Times editorial page, has entered the blogosphere. For those who aren’t familiar with Ed’s work, he’s a frequent writer of letters to the editor in the local paper. From the complaints on his blog, we’d see even more of his letters if many weren’t rejected [...]

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Now, according to this Journal Star article, several area municipalities are wasting our tax dollars on the purchase of outdoor ashtrays and free personal ashtrays to be given away at local taverns.  Why?  Because litter-bug smokers can’t clean up after themselves.
I’m really tired of the arrogant sense of entitlement some smokers seem to have.  Just [...]

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